Category: default || By jt3y

You've probably noticed the TV ads promoting Citgo's program that distributes discount heating oil to low-income families on the East Coast.

And if you shop at a Foodland store, you may have noticed promotional items for a new program promoting gasoline discounts --- a la Giant Eagle's hugely successful "Fuel Perks" program --- at something called "Fueland" convenience stores.

The McKeesport area is getting its first such store right now on Lebanon Church Road in Dravosburg, though a station in Turtle Creek is also accepting "Fuel Links."

But do you know why Citgo is running those ads?

And did you know that Mon Valley Petroleum was sold last year?

And did you know that all of these things are related?

Well, the crack(ed) Tube City Almanac research team has swung into action to bring you, our loyal dozens of readers, the stories behind the stories, and our I-Team investigation begins .... (swoosh!) right now!

. . .

First, about those Citgo ads. Citgo (which was Cities Service Petroleum back in the dim recesses of history) has been taking a beating in the marketplace ever since Venezuelans elected Hugo Chavez as president.

Citgo was once controlled by Armand Hammer's Occidental Petroleum but was sold in the mid-1980s, first to the parent of the 7-Eleven convenience stores, and then to an oil company owned by the Venezuelan government.

And the Venezuelan government is not terribly well-liked in a lot of quarters in this country. Depending on your point of view, Chavez is either a radical socialist dictator who supports terrorism, or a populist trying to reform Venezuela. Possibly, he's a little bit of both.

There's no doubt that Chavez has ruled the country with a iron hand since 1998, controlling virtually all branches of government and suppressing freedom of speech. But he was democratically elected and re-elected twice (with international monitors watching the polls closely), has apparently made serious efforts to help the country's poor, and some sources say that although corruption and inefficiency is rampant in Venezuela, the country is considerably better off than most of its neighbors.

. . .

U.S. relations with Venezuela hit the skids when President Bush took office in 2001 and began blasting Chavez as a Communist radical. It didn't help when a military coup that attempted to overthrow Venezuela's government in 2002 was linked to the U.S. government, or when Pat Robertson, in his inimitable fashion, suggested that Chavez should be assassinated.

Chavez, for his part, has called Bush an alcoholic and a terrorist. Last year, when he gave a speech at the United Nations a day after President Bush, Chavez took the podium to announce that "the devil was here yesterday, and it still smells of sulfur."

On the other hand, Latin American politicians have always boosted their approval ratings at home by making fun of the U.S., and if we really did attempt to overthrow his government, well, you can understand why he's a teensy bit cheesed.

. . .

In summary, Chavez is not a popular guy with the American right, and Citgo's U.S. dealers are taking it in the shorts. There's a boycott underway, largely "fueled" by conservative organizations like the American Family Association.

According to James Lileks, some independent Citgo dealers in the Midwest are switching brands or covering up Citgo logos. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported in January that several Citgo stations there are also switching brands.

Hence the TV commercials showing Citgo's generosity toward American citizens, providing low-cost heating oil to the needy ("and pay no attention to the president of our country calling the president of your country 'a threat to humanity'").

. . .

Now, about the "Fueland"/"Foodland" connection. According to a press release from a company called "MetroSplash," the Fueland program was created by North Hills-based Superior Petroleum, which operates the Glassmart convenience stores around Western Pennsylvania --- including (in the Mon-Yough area) stores in West Homestead, Monessen and Wilkinsburg.

Last April, Superior also bought Mon Valley Petroleum (the former King & Keeney Oil Company on West Smithfield Street in Elizabeth Township) which had been controlled by McKeesport native Hartley King, founder of King's Family Restaurants. MVP operated the "Buy 'n Fly" stores around McKeesport, including those on Walnut Street in Christy Park and on Route 30 in North Versailles.

Fueland is an entirely new but related chain which rolled out its first new stores in the Kittanning area, according to an article last year in the Leader Times.

MetroSplash owns a system called "Fuel Links," which --- like the Giant Eagle "Fuel Perks" programs --- offers discounts to people with customer loyalty cards. In this case, people with these new Foodland cards.

Superior Petroleum has no corporate relationship to Citgo, other than as an independent dealer of Citgo products at some (but not all) of its stores.

. . .

As far as I can tell, the "Fuel Links" program is not interchangeable with Shop 'n Save's "Pump Perks" program, which is run in conjunction with local Sunoco stations, even though Shop 'n Save and Foodland are both supplied by Minnesota-based Supervalu.

Confused yet? Good!

"Fuel Links" gives Foodland a chance to compete with Giant Eagle, and hopefully mitigates some of the damage that's being inflicted on Citgo dealers.

But considering Foodland is a weak third- or fourth-place in the Pittsburgh market, behind Giant Eagle, Wal-Mart and Shop 'n Save, this may be a case of two drunks trying to prop each other up.

So, that's the connection between Latin American strongman Hugo Chavez, Citgo gasoline, Foodland and Elizabeth Township, and we hope you've enjoyed this little slice of retailing news and geopolitical intrigue from your neighborhood.

I'd say that "now you know the rest of the story," but Paul Harvey has very mean lawyers.